Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell finally make a record together

March 14, 2013|By Chrissie Dickinson, Special to the Tribune

Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell met in 1974. She recorded his songs. He was in her band for a time. They always talked about doing a proper duo album. Nearly 40 years on, they've finally made good on that promise.

Although the two have collaborated on numerous projects through the years, "Old Yellow Moon" (Nonesuch) marks their first full-length work together. The ace material here comes from various songwriters, including Crowell, Roger Miller and Patti Scialfa.

Harris and Crowell are on a tour that brings them to Symphony Center on Wednesday.

Considering that Harris and Crowell have known each other since the 1970s, why the long wait for this bona fide collaboration?

"Rodney and I are road dogs," Harris says. "We're always out there working. We always assumed it would happen, that we would get together and make this record. But the years passed.

"Finally one day, I'd finished (my last album) 'Hard Bargain' and I thought, 'What am I going to do next?' I said to Rodney, 'Let's look at our calendars before they fill up.'"

They're both busy folks. The acclaimed Harris maintains a busy schedule of recording and touring. Singer-songwriter Crowell wears various hats as a solo artist, producer and author.

Harris and Crowell met when she was preparing to record her first solo album in the wake of the death of her mentor, progressive country icon Gram Parsons. Harris was looking for songs to record. Her producer, Brian Ahern, put on a tape from Crowell. She loved it from the first bar.

At the time, Harris was playing Washington, D.C., clubs six nights a week. Crowell flew in to meet her and sat in on a set. The two sat up all night talking about the Louvin Brothers, Townes Van Zandt and Buck Owens. A lifelong friendship was born.

Crowell was a Texas singer-songwriter who had relocated to Nashville, Tenn. In Music City, he honed his skills as one of a group of top-tier songwriters that included Guy Clark and Mickey Newbury.

"Emmy was a folkie from the East Coast, and I'm white trash from Houston with my family of hard-drinkin', country-music-lovin' people," Crowell says. "Emmy was still educating herself on country music. Her collaboration with Gram Parsons was the beginning. He had his premature death.

"She was still learning about the art form. She was recording my songs and giving me an outlet for my songs, and I had a background that she could draw upon. Our friendship was sealed that way. It's a conversation that never ended."

"Musically, our sensibilities were the same," Harris says. "We were young upstarts in the music business finding ourselves surrounded by these incredibly talented, professional, successful musicians and producers. That formed a bond. That was the beginning. And now here we are, almost 40 years later."

"Old Yellow Moon" is an album that's smart from top to bottom. Harris and Crowell are hard-wired for good taste and seem constitutionally incapable of making a weak record. It's a lovely song cycle, and the number "Back When We Were Beautiful," written by the trenchant songwriter Matraca Berg, is a particular triumph.

Crowell writes important songs, and Harris collects them, so they spotted this winner the moment it was brought to their attention by their mutual friend and past collaborator, producer and musician Emory Gordy Jr. "Back When We Were Beautiful" is a devastating look at the issues of aging. It's told through the perspective of an older woman who faces various forms of loss, including the death of her husband.

"Anybody who hears that song is touched," Harris says. "We all know that we're probably going to go through that. For the most part we know someone who has. In this case for me, I was thinking about my mother, who turns 92 this year. My mother is the most lovely, graceful person. Certainly there are the terrible things. Her body is deteriorating, but her mind is sharp as a tack."

As for their tour together, Harris says there is a deep comfort level performing with Crowell.

"I have such a confidence in Rodney," she says. "Not just as a musician, but also as a person who is comfortable in his own skin. Here I am with one of my oldest friends, and we share so much history. And we share the present now. I can't wait to get out there and hopefully share what we have with an audience."

On the road with Harris, Crowell is reminded of the essence of their relationship that stretches back to the night they met.

"There's no argument that ever happens with us," he says. "We have no competition or ego involved in what we do. We're just having fun. That's why we got into this in the first place, because it seemed like it would be fun."